Railway-switch.



No. 778,008. PATENTED DEC. 20, 1904.

F. G. CARROLL 8: T. FLEMING.

RAILWAY SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 12, 1904.

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' I $7M g No. 778,008. PATENTED DEC. 20, 1904. F. G. CARROLL & T.FLEMING.

RAILWAY SWITCH.

APPLICATION rIL-m) AUG. 12, 1904.

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UNITED STATES Patented December 20, 1904.

PATENT ()FFICE.

FRANK O. CARROLL, OF WILLOUGHBY, AND THOMAS FLEMING, OF

' CLEVELAND, OHIO.

RAILWAY-SWITCH- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.778,008, dated December 20, 1904. Application filed August 12, 1904.Serial No. 220,580.

To aZZ whom it may concern: v

Be it known that we, FRANK O. CARROLL, residing at VVilloughby, in thecounty of Lake, and THOMAS FLEMING, residing at Cleveland, in the countyof Ouyahoga, State of Ohio,

citizens of the United States, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Railway-Switches, of which the followingis a full, clear,and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

In railroad practice two varieties of switchoperating mechanisms are inuse. In both varieties some one has to open the switch; but in onevariety the switch is self-closing, and therefore some one has to holdit open all of the time the train is passing over it. Thisisobjectionable because it keeps one man from other work which he mightdo. In the other variety of switch-operating mechanism some one has alsoto close the switch. The failures of parties to close such switches hasbeen the cause of a great many serious railroad accidents.

The object of the present invention is to provide switch-operatingmechanism of such character that when it has once been opened to permita train to pass onto a side track the train itself will hold the switchopen until the entire train has so passed, and then the switch willclose itself.

The invention may be summarized as consisting in the combination ofparts as hereinafter described, and definitely set forth in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a View of the invention in an approvedform. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the casing P andassociated parts. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the device, showinga modified form of mechanism for moving the bar E and closing theswitch. Fig. 4 is a sectional View of the lower part of the mechanismshown in Fig. 3, the section being taken in a vertical plane at rightangles to the plane of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a view looking in the directionof the arrow in Fig. 3, showing some of the parts in section.

Referring to the parts by letters, AA represent the two rails of themain track.

I B .13 represent the two rails of the side track, and O represents anordinary switch for connecting the main line and side track. Drepresents an ordinary switch-stand, which may be connected with theswitch in the usual Wayas, for example, a lever-arm (Z of theswitch-stand may be connected, by means of a rod F, with the switch.

E represents a bar, which must be so placed with respect to one of therails B B that the wheels of a car traversing the rail will engage withthis bar and move it out of its normal position. In the particularembodiment of the invention shown this bar is placed just inside of theouter rail B, and it is pivoted on a horizontal axis which issubstantially parallel with the rail and located a suitable distancebelow the top of the rail. The pivots are supported by plates N, whichare secured to the ties. This bar is normally held so that its outerface engages with the inner face of the ball of the rail, and it is heldin this position by a spring Gor springs G Ur, or both, orsomeequivalent self-acting mechanism. It is not material to the presentinvention whereabout this spring shall be located. In the embodiment ofthe invention shown in Figs. 1 and 2, however, a rod H is connected witha lever-arm c on bar E and extends under the rail B, and the spring Grlies in a fixed spring-case P and embraces this rod, being compressedslightly between theend of the spring-case and a collar 72, on the rodH. This rodis connected with one arm, in, of the bell-crank lever K, theother arm, 76, of which lever is connected by a rod L with a lever-arm(Z of the switch-stand.

As shown in Fig. 1, other springs Or may be compressed between bar E andplates R secured to the ties, and they will supplement the action of thespring Gr.

In Figs. 3, 4, and 5 a counterweight is shown in place of the spring Gr.This counterweight T is on a vertically-movable rod t in a fixed case S,and the lower end of this rod is connected with one arm, o, of abell-crank lever whose other arm, o, is connected with the rod H. Therod t is also connected with the horizontal arm w of a bell-crank leverwhose other arm, w, is connected with the rod L.

A lever (indicated by X in Figs. 1 and 2 and by X in Fig. 3) may be usedto move the described mechanism to open the switch.

From the foregoing description it is apparent that the spring or Weightsreferred to will act not only to hold the bar E against the rail, butwill also act through the described mechanism to close the switch. Asbefore stated, it is of no consequence to the present invention wherethe mechanism is located which will automatically close the switch ormove the bar E, as stated, nor is the particular form of the mechanismfor so moving them material to the present invention.

The bar E should be about forty feet long, more or less, and its ends 0should curve away from the rail B. When the wheels of a car riding onthe rail come to this bar, the wheelflanges will force themselvesbetween the bar and rail, thereby moving the bar, if it has not alreadybeen moved, and opening the switch. Ordinarily a brakeman or some otheremployee will open the switch by moving some part of the mechanismdescribed with which the switch is connected, preferably the lever X orX, and he will hold it open until the wheel-flanges have passed betweenthe bar E and rail B. These flanges will prevent the bar from movingtoward the rail and will therefore prevent the closing of the switch.The bar'is made of substantially the length specified, so as to make itassuredthat so long as a train is passing from the main line onto theside track some wheel or wheels on the passing cars will be inengagement with the bar and will thus hold the switch open until saidcars have passed on to the side track and beyond this bar. When theyhave so passed, the described mechanism acts automatically to close theswitch and to move the bar against the rail. It is therefore obviousthat the brakeman having once opened the switch may leave it as soon asthe first car has carried one of its wheels between the bar and rail andgo about his other business. This bar E should be placed at such a pointthat the last car on the side track must pass beyond it before it willbe possible for cars to pass on the main line without striking the lastcar on the side track.

The drawings show the bar to be pivoted,

as described, so as to be moved by the flanges of the car-wheels; but itis not essential to the invention that the bar shall be a pivoted bar orthat it shall be moved by the wheelflanges. Any movable bar capable ofbeing held out of its normal position by the wheels of the passing carsmay be substituted for the bar shown and described, provided it isconnected by suitable transmission mechanism with the switch andprovided automatic mechanism is provided which will move the bar to itsnormal position and will close the switch when the car-wheels no longerengage with the bar.

It is thought that it will be advantageous to provide means whereby theswitch will not only be closed automatically, but will also be lockedautomatically. For this purpose a spring-lock Y may be screwed to thecase P or S and the bolt Z may be connected with the lever X or X.

Having described our invention, weclaim- 1. The combination of arailway-switch, its operating mechanism, with a movable bar whichnormally lies in contact with the inner edge of one of the side-trackrails, a spring constraining it to move to this position, and mechanismconnecting it with the switch-operating mechanism.

2. The combination of a railway-switch, its operating mechanism, andmechanism by which the switch is closed when said mechanism is permittedto act, with a long bar which normally lies just inside and against oneof the side-track rails, which bar is pivoted on a horizontallongitudinal pivot, and mechanism connecting said bar with theswitch-operating mechanism.

3. The combination of a railway-switch, its operating mechanism, with amovable bar which normally lies in contact with the inner edge of one ofthe side-track rails, means constraining it to move to this position,and mechanism connecting it with the switch-operating mechanism, saidbar having inwardly-bent ends which permit the wheel-flanges to passbetween it and the rail and so move said bar.

Intestimony whereof we hereunto affix our signatures in the presence oftwo witnesses.

FRANK (I. CARROLL. THOS. FLEMING.

Witnesses:

E. B..GILc1-1RIsT, E. L. THURSTON.

